September 27, 2011

"First, he is jilted and this makes him suicidal. I get that. This leads him to flashback to his parents' deaths and how all of this has left him alone. And his loneliness is palpable because there's nothing left for him to grab on to. The unwinding of the simple everyman (in a fortunately non-allegorical sense) is a story that's presented in a simple direct way without being flashy or even really pointing to its emotions. Consequently, I too have cried listening to such simple pain played out over my speakers."
A fine argument in favor of a song I would never even have considered putting on the list of top 100 songs that ever reached #1, let alone giving the #31 slot. There are so many overblown pop songs, and if you loathe excessive drama, rather than rail against those songs — which is more drama — it's a nice strategy to honor the spare and simple, restrained expression of emotion of a song like this. Still, surely, there must be some other, better songs upon which to exercise this anti-drama strategy.

Truly, a terrible maudlin mess of a song. Got to remember, however, that teenagers are the principle purchasers of songs.

I'm more interested in a ban on triumphal feminist vocal acrobatics. Alicia Keys' New York song is one of the worst ever of this genre. Of course, this genre also includes the now mandatory feminist vocalist wowing us with stratospheric acrobatics during the singing of the National Anthem. I suggest strangulation as the only appropriate response.

For an example of great songwriting, I suggest Hank Williams III's Thrown Out of Every Bar.

I been beat up badI've been kicked aroundI've been thrown out of every damn bar in this old townIn this old townI guess they don't like the way we like to have our fun'cause I'm always out there and I'm on the runAnd I'm runnin' and gunnin' and a looking' for a damn good time

"It is hard to write good songs that are sad without being needlessly dramatic."

I suppose it depends on what the lyrics use to create the feeling of sadness and how the music is used to frame the words. It's easy to imagine the same song orchestrated and sung differently to create an opposite impression on whatever scale of dramatic-ness is being invoked.

Same holds for operatic standards, like Vesti la giubba (the clown crying on the inside while preparing to make the audience laugh) or Dove sono i bei momenti (the countess thinking of happier times while her husband tries to seduce the maid). With a full orchestra and a big stage set, they define 'dramatic'. But they can be performed in a much more intimate way, and the emotion being invoked invites that treatment.

This song is not as good as it sounds. Life is an ongoing series of bereavements, missed connections, and abandonments. The melody and the simple phrase "alone again naturally" capture this feeling. Most of the other lyrics are too much. To date, I have not been stood up at the altar, nor would throwing myself off the belfry be my preferred exit route. This is not the common fate of humanity. But alone again naturally is. I like this song with its fine melody and one sad catchphrase.

There are a few Carly Simon songs ("Let The River Run," "The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of," "What Shall We Do With The Child") that just hit me right *there* -- strong emotional impact, and they're pretty much the only ones that do that to me. I make a point of not listening to them at work on my iPod.

We'll never know what the first draft of a song by Johnny Mercer or Stephen Sondheim was, but I'd be willing to bet such a song went through many drafts before either of those two had wrung the excess, or "needless drama" out of it and arrived at the irreducible diamond lyric that seems both effortless and obvious.

Vagueness, that's the brilliant part. The song doesn't hint at what happened to Jesse so the listener fills it in. But that vagueness is contrasted by captivating specificity of visual imagery evoked by lines like this:

Jesse come home, there's a hole in the bed where we slept, now its growing cold.

and this:

And I'm keeping the light on the stairs, no I'm not scared. I wait for you.

Vagueness compels listeners to fill in the larger missing portion to complete the picture of what happened to Jesse. When I first heard the song I imagined a Civil War situation and that is the imagery that stuck with me, but it could be anything. The comments on YouTube indicate people weep to this song and confess completing the picture by evoking exceedingly personally emotional imagery.

The lyrics tell of a person waiting at home for Jesse to return. The pace, the tone, the floors, the walls, the hall, the stairs (twice), the light on the stairs, the colors, the bed (twice), all wait for Jesse to come home. From what?

I think that Janice Ian thinks the song is clever for lines like this:

Jesse the spread on the bed,is like when you left and I've kept it for you. And all the blues and the greens, have been recently cleaned and are seemingly new

I suppose that is decent poetry. Seems Ian-esque. Anyway, the song is available for your collection through the Althouse-Amazon portal.

If you are thinking about purchasing this song and would like to see and hear Roberta Flack sing Jesse before spending your 99¢, and what wise music buyer wouldn't?, you can view a 1975 concert version here on YouTube.

"Alone Again, Naturally" is anything but cool, and so it has become fashionable to criticize it. Obviously, a heck of a lot of people bought a song which had almost nothing to do with standard pop music at the time. I think it is brilliant. A recent song of a similar nature is Lifehouse's "Broken", particularly the original version.

My personal favorite in the very emotional pop song vein is "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" by the Hollies. Also fantastic: "Since I Lost My Baby" by the Temptations. Heh, I can't stop: also "The Love I Saw in You was Just a Mirage" by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. Great.

I too think its a brilliant song, both lyrically and melodically. funny thing though, if I didnt know the lyrics it wouldnt strike me as a particularly sad song. It is actually pretty toe tappy actually.

It may be hard to do but that doesn't mean there's a shortage of good examples.

Also, "sad" is kind of a broad category, and the phrase "needlessly dramatic" is sort of meaningless, isn't it? There are eight different varieties of "sad" on Lennon's "Plastic Ono Band" and some primal screaming. Needlessly dramatic?

I guess I'm not getting at what this guy is saying enough to get why this particular song stands out.

Sorrow stay, lend true repentant tears,To a woeful wretched wight,Hence, despair with thy tormenting fears:O do not my poor heart affright.Pity, help now or never,Mark me not to endless pain,Alas I am condemned ever,No hope, no help there doth remain,But down, down, down, down I fall,Down and arise I never shall.

I stand in awe as the sun goes down,And I see my days turn to gold,And the moon and I, we are all aloneAnd she haunts the sky like a ghost;And I stand in awe of the love Ive lost--Will you be the one that got away?And I built my house where youll never go,And I stand in awe of all . . . that could have been.

He reminds me of a Vegasey Paul McCartney, big on the schmaltz and cuteness. I recently discovered GOS through the song Claire, which despite sounding mildly creepy like an ode to love from a child molester (though actually quite innocent)is incredibly lush and tuneful. I played the song Get Down for my friend and he thinks that was a song he loved as a kid, because it had a video with dogs in it that was on a variety show. So while I recognize the schmaltz I will also say, the guy is a a phenomenal song writer and i have to admit some of his songs haven't aged as badly as some from say Elton John for example. There's something to be said for tuneful schmaltz sung by a guy who sounds ilke a wimpier Paul Mccartney.